Public Information Officer Drew Latch addresses Citizen’s Police Academy candidates before showing a slideshow of some highlights from this year’s academy at the graduation ceremony Thursday. (THE COURIER / Jeanette Anderton)

The Russellville Police Department (RPD) graduated 18 people Thursday who live or work in Pope County from its eighth annual Citizen’s Police Academy (CPA) program.

“The main purpose of CPA is to allow the police department to pull back the curtains and let the community see what happens behind the scenes,” RPD Public Information Officer Drew Latch said. “They get to see incidents and complaints the department deals with on a daily basis.”

The eight-week program included activities such as traffic stops, crime scene processing, an emergency vehicle obstacle course, shooting at the RPD range, field sobriety testing and a simulation of high-risk situations.

Graduate Shannon Foster, 25, said she learned a lot in a short time.

“My favorite experience was giving the sobriety tests and the simulation,” she said. “It was interesting to learn up-to-date information about drugs. I didn’t know people change the street names for drugs every year.”

At the Thursday graduation, Russellville Police Chief Jeff Humphrey asked the candidates for their input.

Several people suggested a more hands-on self-defense class.

“We’d love to tase you guys,” Humphrey joked. “Anybody can watch a video of tasing.”

Humphrey said he was glad the participants seemed to have a better understanding of an officer’s job.

“We’re regular people that have a job being a police officer,” he said. “We make mistakes, we’re not perfect. We try and we train.”

After presenting the graduates with their certificates and a goody bag — which included a T-shirt, a water bottle, a sticker and a patch with the RPD logo among other items — Latch said he was proud of them.

“This group was amazing with how interactive you were and how many questions you asked,” he said. “We need the interaction. If we don’t have the community’s support, we can’t succeed.”